U.S. patent number 10,139,674 [Application Number 14/907,819] was granted by the patent office on 2018-11-27 for reflective liquid crystal display device.
This patent grant is currently assigned to WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.. The grantee listed for this patent is Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Hongqing Cui, Xinhui Zhong.
United States Patent |
10,139,674 |
Cui , et al. |
November 27, 2018 |
Reflective liquid crystal display device
Abstract
The present invention provides a reflective liquid crystal
display device, which includes an upper substrate and a lower
substrate that are opposite to each other, a liquid crystal layer
arranged between the upper and lower substrates, a transparent
plastic layer bonded to a surface of the lower substrate that is
distant from the liquid crystal layer, and a mirror-reflection
layer that is attached by the transparent plastic layer to the
surface of the lower substrate. The transparent plastic material of
the transparent plastic layer for attaching the mirror-reflection
layer contains therein transparent particles and the transparent
plastic material and the transparent particles have different
reflectivity so as to provide an effect of diffuse reflection.
Namely, the transparent plastic layer and the mirror-reflection
layer are combined together to provide a diffuse-reflection layer,
so that compared to the conventional reflective liquid crystal
display devices, there is no need to conduct an additional process
for forming a diffuse-reflection layer, thereby simplifying the
manufacturing of the diffuse-reflection layer and reducing the
difficulty and cost of the manufacturing.
Inventors: |
Cui; Hongqing (Wuhan,
CN), Zhong; Xinhui (Wuhan, CN) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. |
Wuhan |
N/A |
CN |
|
|
Assignee: |
WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS
TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (Wuhan, Hubei, CN)
|
Family
ID: |
55329552 |
Appl.
No.: |
14/907,819 |
Filed: |
December 29, 2015 |
PCT
Filed: |
December 29, 2015 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/CN2015/099587 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
January 27, 2016 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2017/092125 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
June 08, 2017 |
Prior Publication Data
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|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20170285401 A1 |
Oct 5, 2017 |
|
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 4, 2015 [CN] |
|
|
2015 1 0890630 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02F
1/133553 (20130101); G02F 1/13363 (20130101); G02F
1/133514 (20130101); G02F 2203/02 (20130101); G02F
2202/28 (20130101); G02F 2203/03 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G02F
1/1335 (20060101); G02F 1/13363 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;349/113 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Briggs; Nathanael R
Assistant Examiner: Peterson; William
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Lei; Leong C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A reflective liquid crystal display device, comprising an upper
substrate and a lower substrate that are opposite to each other, a
liquid crystal layer between the upper and lower substrates, a
transparent plastic layer bonded to a surface of the lower
substrate that is distant from the liquid crystal layer, and a
mirror-reflection layer that is attached by the transparent plastic
layer to the lower substrate; wherein the transparent plastic layer
comprises a transparent plastic material and transparent particles
mixed in the transparent plastic material; and wherein the surface
of the lower substrate is a flat surface and the transparent
plastic material of the transparent plastic layer is formed as a
continuous layer attached to the flat surface of the lower
substrate to completely cover the entirety of the flat surface and
the transparent particles are mixed in and enclosed by the
transparent plastic material and are distributed over the entirety
of the flat surface of the lower substrate, wherein the transparent
plastic layer is sandwiched between the flat surface of the lower
substrate and the mirror-reflection layer and is in direct contact
with the flat surface of the lower substrate and the
mirror-reflection layer, such that light transmitting through the
lower substrate travels through the transparent plastic layer and
reflected by the mirror-reflection layer.
2. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the transparent particles and the transparent plastic
material have different reflectivity.
3. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the mirror-reflection layer is formed of a material
comprising a metal.
4. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
3, wherein the material of the mirror-reflection layer is aluminum
or silver.
5. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the upper substrate is a color filter substrate.
6. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the lower substrate is a thin-film transistor array
substrate.
7. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the reflective liquid crystal display device is
applicable to a mobile device.
8. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
7, wherein the reflective liquid crystal display device is
applicable to a wearable device.
9. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in claim
1, wherein the mirror-reflection layer provides predetermined
displaying illumination for the reflective liquid crystal display
device by reflecting back surrounding light that enters the
reflective liquid crystal display device.
10. A reflective liquid crystal display device, comprising an upper
substrate and a lower substrate that are opposite to each other, a
liquid crystal layer between the upper and lower substrates, a
transparent plastic layer bonded to a surface of the lower
substrate that is distant from the liquid crystal layer, and a
mirror-reflection layer that is attached by the transparent plastic
layer to the lower substrate; wherein the transparent plastic layer
comprises a transparent plastic material and transparent particles
mixed in the transparent plastic material; wherein the surface of
the lower substrate is a flat surface and the transparent plastic
material of the transparent plastic layer is formed as a continuous
layer attached to the flat surface of the lower substrate to
completely cover the entirety of the flat surface and the
transparent particles are mixed in and enclosed by the transparent
plastic material and are distributed over the entirety of the flat
surface of the lower substrate, wherein the transparent plastic
layer is sandwiched between the flat surface of the lower substrate
and the mirror-reflection layer and is in direct contact with the
flat surface of the lower substrate and the mirror-reflection
layer, such that light transmitting through the lower substrate
travels through the transparent plastic layer and reflected by the
mirror-reflection layer; wherein the transparent particles and the
transparent plastic material have different reflectivity; wherein
the upper substrate is a color filter substrate; and wherein the
lower substrate is a thin-film transistor array substrate.
11. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in
claim 10, wherein the mirror-reflection layer is formed of a
material comprising a metal.
12. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in
claim 11, wherein the material of the mirror-reflection layer is
aluminum or silver.
13. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in
claim 10, wherein the reflective liquid crystal display device is
applicable to a mobile device.
14. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in
claim 13, wherein the reflective liquid crystal display device is
applicable to a wearable device.
15. The reflective liquid crystal display device as claimed in
claim 10, wherein the mirror-reflection layer provides
predetermined displaying illumination for the reflective liquid
crystal display device by reflecting back surrounding light that
enters the reflective liquid crystal display device.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of display technology,
and in particular to a reflective liquid crystal display
device.
2. The Related Arts
The emergence and development of mobile devices and wearable device
brings ever increasing demand for lightweight and ultra power
saving display devices for various applications. Among them,
electronic ink display devices have a significant advantage of
ultra power saving and extremely extended standby time, making it
successful in the application of electronic books; however, they
suffers serious disadvantages in respect of color displaying and
dynamic displaying and being incapable of full color displaying and
unable to achieve refresh rates necessary for video displaying
hinder widened applications of the electronic ink in movable and
wearable device. Ordinary liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and
organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, although possessing
displaying characteristics, such as colorfulness, definitions, and
refresh rate, satisfying most of the demands, require relatively
high power consumption, making them one of the major power
consuming components for the applications in movable and wearable
devices and greatly restricting the standby or operation time of
the device.
A reflective liquid crystal display device has a high refresh rate
and better color displaying characteristics similar to those of the
traditional LCDs and requires no backlighting to supply light so as
to cast ultra power saving characteristics, such features making it
though highly of in the applications of mobile and wearable
devices. As shown in FIG. 1 a reflective liquid crystal display
device comprises an upper substrate 100 and a lower substrate 200
that are opposite to each other, a liquid crystal layer 300 between
the upper and lower substrates 100, 200, and a reflective layer 400
attached to a surface of the lower substrate 200, wherein the
reflective layer 400 is often formed of a metal layer having
relatively high reflectivity for reflecting surrounding light that
transmits into a display device backwards in order to provide
displaying illumination for the reflective display device. Further,
as shown in FIG. 2, the reflective layer 400 is further processed
to form a diffuse-reflection layer 400' in order to change the
behavior of reflection thereof from mirror surface reflection to
diffusion reflection. The formation of the diffuse-reflection layer
400' that features diffusion reflection would require processing
conducted on a surface of the reflective layer 400 to form bump
structures 401 thereon so as to provide a metal diffuse-reflection
layer 400' having an irregular surface. This requires one or
multiple runs of processes of coating photoresist, exposure, and
developments, making the process relatively complicated and the
cost high.
Thus, it is desired to provide a novel way of forming a reflective
layer or structure in a reflective liquid crystal display device to
provide a diffuse reflection effect with a simplified manufacturing
process and reduced cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a reflective
liquid crystal display device, which comprises a mirror-surface
reflection layer that is formed of a transparent resin glue layer
formed of a transparent glue material mixed with transparent
particles to provide an effect of diffuse reflection thereby
simplifying the manufacturing process of a diffuse reflection layer
and reducing the difficulty and cost of the manufacturing.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a
reflective liquid crystal display device, which comprises an upper
substrate and a lower substrate that are opposite to each other, a
liquid crystal layer between the upper and lower substrates, a
transparent plastic layer bonded to a surface of the lower
substrate that is distant from the liquid crystal layer, and a
mirror-reflection layer that is attached by the transparent plastic
layer to the lower substrate;
wherein the transparent plastic layer comprises a transparent
plastic material and transparent particles mixed in the transparent
plastic material.
The transparent particles and the transparent plastic material have
different reflectivity.
The mirror-reflection layer is formed of a material comprising a
metal.
The material of the mirror-reflection layer is aluminum or
silver.
The upper substrate is a color filter substrate.
The lower substrate is a thin-film transistor array substrate.
The reflective liquid crystal display device is applicable to a
mobile device.
The reflective liquid crystal display device is applicable to a
wearable device.
The mirror-reflection layer provides predetermined displaying
illumination for the reflective liquid crystal display device by
reflecting back surrounding light that enters the reflective liquid
crystal display device.
The present invention also provides a reflective liquid crystal
display device, which comprises an upper substrate and a lower
substrate that are opposite to each other, a liquid crystal layer
between the upper and lower substrates, a transparent plastic layer
bonded to a surface of the lower substrate that is distant from the
liquid crystal layer, and a mirror-reflection layer that is
attached by the transparent plastic layer to the lower
substrate;
wherein the transparent plastic layer comprises a transparent
plastic material and transparent particles mixed in the transparent
plastic material;
wherein the transparent particles and the transparent plastic
material have different reflectivity;
wherein the upper substrate is a color filter substrate; and
wherein the lower substrate is a thin-film transistor array
substrate.
The efficacy of the present invention is that the present invention
provides a reflective liquid crystal display device, which
comprises an upper substrate and a lower substrate that are
opposite to each other, a liquid crystal layer arranged between the
upper and lower substrates, a transparent plastic layer bonded to a
surface of the lower substrate that is distant from the liquid
crystal layer, and a mirror-reflection layer that is attached by
the transparent plastic layer to the surface of the lower
substrate. The transparent plastic material of the transparent
plastic layer for attaching the mirror-reflection layer contains
therein transparent particles and the transparent plastic material
and the transparent particles have different reflectivity so as to
provide an effect of diffuse reflection. Namely, the transparent
plastic layer and the mirror-reflection layer are combined together
to provide a diffuse-reflection layer, so that compared to the
conventional reflective liquid crystal display devices, there is no
need to conduct an additional process for forming a
diffuse-reflection layer, thereby simplifying the manufacturing of
the diffuse-reflection layer and reducing the difficulty and cost
of the manufacturing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The technical solution, as well as other beneficial advantages, of
the present invention will become apparent from the following
detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention,
with reference to the attached drawings.
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the structure of a
conventional reflective liquid crystal display device that adopts
mirror reflection;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating the structure of a
conventional reflective liquid crystal display device that adopts
diffuse reflection;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating the structure of a
reflective liquid crystal display device according to the present
invention; and
FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating an optic path of diffuse
reflection achieved with a transparent glue layer of the reflective
liquid crystal display device according to the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
To further expound the technical solution adopted in the present
invention and the advantages thereof, a detailed description is
given to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the
attached drawings.
Referring to FIG. 3, the present invention provides a reflective
liquid crystal display device, which comprises an upper substrate
10 and a lower substrate 20 that are opposite to each other, a
liquid crystal layer 30 arranged between the upper and lower
substrates 10, 20, a transparent plastic layer 40 bonded to a
surface of the lower substrate 20 that is distant from the liquid
crystal layer 30, and a mirror-reflection layer 50 that is attached
to the surface of the lower substrate 20 by the transparent plastic
layer 40.
The transparent plastic layer 40 comprises a transparent plastic
material 41 and transparent particles 42 mixed in the transparent
plastic material 41.
Specifically, the transparent particles 42 and the transparent
plastic material 41 have different reflectivity. As shown in FIG.
4, when surrounding light travels through the upper substrate 10
and the liquid crystal layer 30 to transmit the lower substrate 20
and enter the transparent plastic layer 40, due to the difference
of reflectivity between the transparent particles 42 and the
transparent plastic material 4, light, when entering the
transparent particles 42, are refracted to change an optical path
thereof and is then reflected by the mirror-reflection layer 50 to
generate an effect of diffuse reflection. In other words, in the
reflective liquid crystal display device of the present invention,
the transparent plastic material 41 that makes the transparent
plastic layer 40 for attachment of the mirror-reflection layer 50
contains therein transparent particles 42 and the transparent
plastic material 41 and the transparent particles 42 have different
reflectivity so that an effect of diffuse reflection is generated.
Namely, the transparent plastic layer 40 and the mirror-reflection
layer 50 are combined together to provide a diffuse-reflection
layer, so that compared to the conventional reflective liquid
crystal display devices, there is no need to conduct an additional
process for forming a diffuse-reflection layer, thereby simplifying
the manufacturing of the diffuse-reflection layer and reducing the
difficulty and cost of the manufacturing.
Specifically, the mirror-reflection layer 50 is formed of a
metallic material, and preferably, the mirror-reflection layer 50
is formed of a material comprising aluminum or silver.
Specifically, the upper substrate 10 can be a color filter
substrate and the lower substrate 20 is a thin-film transistor
array substrate.
Specifically, the reflective liquid crystal display device is
applicable to mobile or wearable devices.
Specifically, the mirror-reflection layer 50 functions to reflect
back surrounding light that enters the reflective liquid crystal
display device so as to provide predetermined displaying
illumination for the reflective liquid crystal display device,
whereby the reflective liquid crystal display device does not
necessarily require a backlight module.
In summary, the present invention provides a reflective liquid
crystal display device, which comprises an upper substrate and a
lower substrate that are opposite to each other, a liquid crystal
layer arranged between the upper and lower substrates, a
transparent plastic layer bonded to a surface of the lower
substrate that is distant from the liquid crystal layer, and a
mirror-reflection layer that is attached by the transparent plastic
layer to the surface of the lower substrate. The transparent
plastic material of the transparent plastic layer for attaching the
mirror-reflection layer contains therein transparent particles and
the transparent plastic material and the transparent particles have
different reflectivity so as to provide an effect of diffuse
reflection. Namely, the transparent plastic layer and the
mirror-reflection layer are combined together to provide a
diffuse-reflection layer, so that compared to the conventional
reflective liquid crystal display devices, there is no need to
conduct an additional process for forming a diffuse-reflection
layer, thereby simplifying the manufacturing of the
diffuse-reflection layer and reducing the difficulty and cost of
the manufacturing.
Based on the description given above, those having ordinary skills
of the art may easily contemplate various changes and modifications
of the technical solution and technical ideas of the present
invention and all these changes and modifications are considered
within the protection scope of right for the present invention.
* * * * *